Obsession (episode)
Kirk obsessively pursues a cloud creature that killed 200 of his shipmates years ago. Summary Teaser On Stardate 3619.2, Captain James Kirk, First Officer Spock, Ensign Rizzo and a team of security guards carried out a survey of Argus X, a planet rich in tritanium, a material 20 times harder than diamond. When Captain Kirk noticed a sweet odor, he ordered Rizzo and the security guards to perform a sweep of the perimeter of the landing site, with special instructions to scan for dikironium and fire on any gaseous clouds they might encounter. He notified Chief Engineer Scott, standing by on the ship, that he was conducting an investigation of the area, in spite of the fact that the [[USS Yorktown|USS Yorktown]] was expecting to rendezvous with them in eight hours' time. Rizzo and the security team reported in when they encountered an odd cloud, and were ordered to fire on it immediately. Contact was then lost with the team. When Kirk and Spock investigated, they found two of the security team dead, and Rizzo badly injured. Every red blood corpuscle had been drained from their bodies. Act One *''Captain’s log, stardate 3619.2. With the mysterious death of two crewmen, all personnel on the planet have been evacuated back to the ship. '' Rizzo was quickly returned to the ship for treatment. Chief Medical Officer McCoy reported that Rizzo remained unconscious for some time, following massive blood transfusions. His autopsy of the deceased crewmen revealed that all red blood cells had been drained from their bodies, without any marks, cuts or incisions of any kind. Captain Kirk suggested that McCoy examine the record of the [[USS Farragut|USS Farragut]], which listed casualties 11 years earlier from identical causes. At this point, Captain Kirk made the decision to investigate the officers' deaths further, in spite of the fact that the ''Enterprise'' was scheduled to pick up highly perishable medical supplies from the Yorktown, supplies that were badly needed on the planet Theta VII. He further requested that McCoy revive Ensign Rizzo for questioning. Although half-conscious, and, in McCoy's medical opinion, unreliable, Rizzo reported that he remembered a sickly sweet odor and that he felt an intelligence when attacked. Kirk then left sickbay, requesting McCoy's medical report as soon as possible. Kirk met with Spock on the bridge, where Lieutenant Uhura reported an urgent message from Starfleet that was ignored by the Captain. Because scans for dikironium were negative, Spock hypothesized that the creature might be able to change its molecular structure. Kirk received a report that Ensign Rizzo had died. Ensign Garrovick, the new security officer, expressed interest in pursuing the creature that killed Rizzo, as he was close to the late Ensign, having graduated from the academy with him. Kirk, Garrovick and a party of four armed security officers beamed down to the planet to investigate the phenomenon that killed Rizzo. they split into two parties of three, one led by Kirk, the other by Garrovick. Kirk gave orders that the cloud was to be shot on sight. Garrovick's party encountered the cloud. While it was approaching them, the cloud appeared to hover briefly; Garrovick hesitated before firing. By the time he shot, the cloud was moving. He missed the cloud entirely, and it attacked and rendered unconscious the two crewmen that were accompanying him. Act Two *''Captain 's log, stardate 3619.6. One of the men in critical condition, the other is dead. And I ... I am now even more convinced that this is not only an intelligent creature, but the same which decimated the crew of the USS Farragut eleven years ago in another part of the galaxy. Both Spock and McCoy are doubtful of this, and I sense they also doubt my decision to stay and fight the thing. Why am I keeping the ship here? '' When the landing party returned to the ship, one of the men was in critical condition, and the other was dead. Kirk became convinced that not only was the creature intelligent, but it was also the same creature which attacked and decimated the crew of the Farragut 11 years previously. Kirk, Spock and McCoy met with Garrovick to hear his report. He detailed his experiences, including his hesitation before firing. As punishment, Captain Kirk relieved him of all duties and confined him to quarters. He then directed Spock and McCoy to make any observations in official reports. At this point, Chief Engineer Scott reported that the ship would be ready to leave orbit in half an hour. Kirk instructed him that they would not be leaving orbit, whereupon Scott reminded Kirk of the urgent nature of their mission to Theta VII. Kirk dressed Scott down, complaining that he was "tired of my senior officers conspiring against me". When pressed, he admitted that he should not have used the word "conspire". He also severely admonished acting science officer Chekov to continue running scans until the gaseous creature was found. At this point, Spock consulted Doctor McCoy on what he observed to be a persistent, single minded fixation on the creature on the part of Captain Kirk. Spock informed McCoy that 11 years earlier, Kirk, under the command of Captain Garrovick on the Farragut, had encountered a similar situation. Captain Garrovick was the father of the Ensign of the same name. Act Three Shortly thereafter, Doctor McCoy met with Captain Kirk to discuss his recent actions. McCoy reminded him that, as a young man, he had hesitated before firing on the creature, causing him to miss it. Shortly thereafter, it had killed 200 crewmen, including Captain Garrovick. McCoy suggested that Kirk's guilt was causing him to become obsessed, and that he was preparing a medical log entry on Kirk's emotional condition. Such a log requires a witness of command grade, so Spock joined the conversation. As per regulations, Spock and McCoy inquired about his recent command decisions. Kirk defended his position by stating that he had sensed that the creature was intelligent, and that he felt it was the same one that attacked them on Argus X. Since this indicated the creature was dangerous and capable of space travel, Kirk had decided to pursue it. At this point, McCoy decided to withhold his judgment on Kirk's emotional state. Scanners detected the cloud was heading into space, so Kirk ordered the Enterprise to follow it. The cloud's speed surpassed Warp 8; if the ship traveled at that speed for a prolonged period, it would damage the engines. After a brief hesitation, Kirk decided to abandon pursuit. As he could not leave his cabin, Head Nurse Chapel brought Garrovick his dinner. She found him consumed with guilt over his inability to fire at the creature in time. She claimed that McCoy had threatened to feed him intravenously if he did not eat; unknown to him, this was a ruse. When she left, Garrovick threw the cover to his plate across the room, causing his ventilation control to jam. A red alert was then called, and Garrovick left his room and reported to the bridge in violation of orders. The red alert was called due to the fact that the creature had decided to turn toward the ship. With Garrovick watching, the Captain ordered phasers to fire on it; however, the phaser attack was ineffectual, as was a barrage of photon torpedoes. The creature then entered the ship through an impulse engine vent that had been left open for repair. It entered the ship's ventilation system, killing two crewmen in the process. The ship only had two hours of remaining air supply. Act Four *''Personal log, stardate 3620.7. Have I the right to jeopardize my crew, my ship for a feeling I can't even put into words? No man achieves Starfleet command without relying on intuition, but have I made a rational decision? Am I letting the horrors of the past distort my judgment of the present? '' Ship senior officers Kirk, Spock and McCoy met to discuss the situation. Although McCoy felt that the situation was a result of Kirk's obsession, it was felt by all that the question of obsession was now an academic one, as the creature had attacked. Further, Spock felt that this attack indicated that the creature was, in fact, intelligent. The consensus of the meeting was that radioactive waste should be flushed into the ventilation system to drive out the creature. Spock also reminded Kirk that as phasers were ineffective, there was no basis for his self-recrimination due to his actions on the Farragut. Later, Spock went to visit Ensign Garrovick in his stateroom. He informed him that his hesitation was natural, at which point they were interrupted by the sickly smell of the cloud creature, which was coming through the vent. Spock ejected Garrovick from his cabin, sealed the door, and attempted to reverse the vent, which was jammed. From outside Garrovick's cabin, Kirk ordered that the pressure inside be reversed. This was effective, and Spock was soon freed; due to his copper-based blood, he was not affected by the creature. Kirk entered the cabin, and was about to report a strange sensation to Spock, when he was interrupted by Scott, who reported that the creature was moving out of the ship the way it came. Kirk met with Garrovick, informing him that as phasers were ineffectual against the creature, he could report for duty. Sensors indicated that the cloud was moving off at high warp speed. Kirk, however, felt that the creature had communicated its intention to go home in Garrovick's cabin; course was therefore set for the planet Tycho IV, where the Farragut had encountered the creature 11 years earlier. McCoy logged his objections to the trip, as the medical supplies being brought by the Yorktown were urgent. However, he was overruled by Kirk, particularly in light of the fact that the evidence indicated the creature was going home to reproduce. It was agreed that antimatter would be used to destroy the creature, in spite of the fact that a matter/antimatter blast would rip away half the planet's atmosphere, and that transporters might not function in such an environment. It was further agreed to use hemoplasm to attract the creature. Spock suggested that he go down to the planet's surface, because he was resistant to the creature. However, Kirk overruled him, and transported down with Ensign Garrovick. Kirk and Garrovick transported to the surface of the planet with the hemoplasm and one ounce of antimatter, which had the explosive force of more than 10,000 cobalt bombs. While the antimatter was being primed, the creature took the hemoplasm. As a result, Captain Kirk decided that he would use himself as bait. He ordered Garrovick back to the ship; at this point, Garrovick attempted to overpower Kirk and force him to return to the ship, but he was unable to do so. Both men stayed on the planet and attracted the creature, detonating the bomb just as it approached them. On the Enterprise, Spock had some difficulty transporting them aboard. First, they tried to reset the transporter; then, they cross-circuited to "A"; finally, it was necessary to cross-circuit to "B", which enabled them to beam the landing party aboard. Garrovick joined Kirk to hear some tall tales of his father's adventures. Quotes "Crazy way to travel, spreading a man's molecules across the Universe!" -- Dr. McCoy Scott: Captain ... thank heaven! Spock: Mr. Scott, there was no deity involved. It was my cross-circuiting to "B" that recovered them. McCoy: Well, then, thank pitchforks and pointed ears! "Don't push our friendship past the point where I have to take official action--" "I'm not, Jim! This is professional! I am preparing a medical log entry on my estimation of the emotional status of the ship's captain." -- Kirk and McCoy "Do I take it... that one or either of you think me unfit or incapacitated?" "Correctly expressed, as recommended by the manual." -- Kirk and Spock as formal questioning begins Background Cast * Eddie Paskey (Lt. Leslie) is killed by the vampire cloud in this episode, but reappears in later scenes (and the very next episode "The Immunity Syndrome") very much alive! According to Paskey, a scene in which a miracle potion saved his life was cut from the show. To see Leslie post mortem, look to see him walk by McCoy in a corridor in a red shirt. Later he walks by McCoy's office door in a yellow shirt when Nurse Chapel enters. * Jerry Ayres, who is killed by the vampire cloud, was also killed in his first "Star Trek" appearance as red-shirted Ensign O'Herlihy in Arena. He had his hair dyed lighter in this appearance, to lessen the resemblance. * McCoy's medical tunic clearly sports an engineering badge. *George Takei (Sulu) does not appear in this episode. Story * In addition to the two mentioned above, three additional crewmembers are killed during this episode, bringing the death count to five. * Spock again is saved in this episode because his blood is based on copper, not iron. On our own planet, octopusses have copper-based blood, haemocyanin, which makes their blood appear blue. * Not unique to this episode are the shock waves that hit the ship after the anti-matter explosion. Shock waves from any type of conventional explosion don't travel in a vacuum. Later series state that any shock waves experienced in vacuum are subspace phenomena, as yet unexplained to modern science. Sets and effects * The planet surface is a reused set from the previous episode The Gamesters of Triskelion minus the ruins and plus some strange alien vegetation. * The visual of the planet Argus X from orbit is reused footage previously representing Alfa 177 in "The Enemy Within", M-113 in "The Man Trap" and The iron-silica planet in "The Alternative Factor". This planet effect would be reused again Ardana in "The Cloud Minders". Links and References Main cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * James Doohan as Scott * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * Walter Koenig as Chekov * Majel Barrett as Chapel Guest Stars * Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel * Stephen Brooks as Ensign Garrovick * Jerry Ayres as Ensign Rizzo * Eddie Paskey as Leslie (uncredited) * William Blackburn as Hadley (uncredited) * Frank da Vinci as Vinci (uncredited) References antigrav; Argus X; blood; cordrazine; dikironium; dikironium cloud creature; ''Farragut'', USS; Garrovick, Captain; "Survey on Cygnian Respiratory Diseases, A"; Theta VII; Tycho IV; ''Yorktown'', USS Category:TOS episodes de:Tödliche Wolken fr:Obsession nl:Obsession